authority. The Venetian ambassador, Wotton said,
was the person who had told him; but the quarter
from which the information originally came, he
believed, might be relied on.--Wotton to the Queen
and Council: _MS. State Paper Office_.]

[Footnote 185: "Un des principaulx qu'il a avec luy
que se nomme William Peto, theologien, luy a
escript luy donnant conseil de non se marrier, et
vivre en celibat; meslant en ses lettres plusieurs
allegations du Vieux et Nouveau Testament, repetant
x ou xii fois qu'elle tombera en la puissance et
servitude du mari, qu'elle n'aura enfans, sinon
soubz danger de sa vie pour l'age dont elle
est."--Renard to Charles V.: Tytler, vol. ii. p.
303.]

Mary, beyond measure afflicted, wrote to Pole at last, asking what in
his opinion she ought to do. He sent his answer through a priest, by
whom it could be conveyed with the greatest emphasis. First, he said,
she must pray to God for a spirit of counsel and fortitude: next, she
must, at all hazards, relinquish the name of Head of the Church; and,
since she could trust neither peer nor prelate, she must recall
parliament, go in person to the House of Commons, and demand
permission with her own mouth for himself to return to England. The
holy see was represented in his person, and was freshly insulted in
the refusal to receive him; the pope's vast clemency had volunteered
unasked to pardon the crimes of England; if the gracious offer was not
accepted, the legacy would be cancelled, the national guilt would be
infinitely enhanced. The emperor talked of prudence; in the service of
God prudence was madness; and, so long as the schism continued, her
attempts at reform were vanity, and her seat upon the throne was
usurpation. Let her tell the truth to the House of Commons, and the
House of Commons would hear.[186]

[Footnote 186: Instructions of Cardinal Pole to
Thomas Goldwell: _Cotton MSS. Titus_, B. 11.]

"Your majesty will see," wrote Renard, enclosing to Charles a copy of
these advices, "the extent of the cardinal's discretion, and how
necessary it is that for the present he be kept at a distance." The
pope was not likely to reject the sub